ISTANBUL

Yemen said Saturday it has completed the evacuation of all foreign tourists who had been stranded on Socotra Island, after transferring 609 visitors of various nationalities to Saudi Arabia through four evacuation flights.

The Yemeni Foreign Ministry said the operation was carried out in coordination with relevant Saudi authorities, confirming that all stranded tourists were flown to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the final evacuation flight departed Socotra earlier Saturday, marking the completion of the operation following recent security tensions in southern Yemen.

“With the departure of the last flight, the transfer of all stranded foreign tourists has been successfully completed,” al-Eryani said, according to Yemen’s official media.

He described the operation as reflecting a high level of national coordination in handling the humanitarian situation.

Al-Eryani also announced that regular international flights between Socotra and Jeddah are set to resume in February, a move he said would help restore confidence in the island as a safe global tourism destination.

He added that a new international air route between Al-Mokha Airport in southwestern Yemen and Jeddah would also be launched.

Earlier this week, Yemen’s Foreign Ministry said the evacuations began after air traffic to Socotra was disrupted due to unrest in the southern parts of the country.

Socotra, located about 300 kilometers (186 miles) off Yemen’s southern coast, had remained largely accessible by air through the United Arab Emirates in recent years, according to international media reports.

The evacuations come amid shifting political and military dynamics in southern Yemen, including tensions involving the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which announced its dissolution on Friday.

North and South Yemen were unified in May 1990, forming the modern Republic of Yemen.